APHUG: Unit 4 Vocabulary (Political Patterns and Processes) (copy)

State

a politically organized independent territory with a government, defined borders, and a permanent population; a country

Nation

a cultural entity made up of people who have forged a common identity through a shared language, religion, heritage, or ethnicity—often all four of these

Nation-State

a politically organized and recognized territory composed of a group of people who consider themselves to be a nation

Stateless Nation

a people united by culture, language, history, and tradition but not possessing a state

Multinational State

a country with various ethnicities and cultures living inside its borders

Multistate nation

people who share a cultural or ethnic background but live in more than one country

Autonomous region

having the authority to govern territories independently of the national government; for example, by having a separate currency

Demarcate

to place physical objects such as stones, pillars, walls, or fences to indicate where a boundary exists

Administer

to manage the way borders are maintained and how goods and people cross them

Semi-autonomous region

describing a region that is given partial authority to govern its territories independently from the national government

Sovereignty

the right of a government to control and defend its territory and determine what happens within its borders

Self-determination

the right of all people to choose their own political status

Independence Movement

a struggle by a people seeking self-determination to gain independence or sovereignty from colonial rulers or a dominant state

Devolution

the process that occurs when the central power in a state is broken up among regional authorities within its borders